I followed Tarisland since its announcement. I got into the beta and played as much as possible before realizing that this alleged WOW killer failed to deliver on its promises. While I vowed never to pick this game up again, I wanted to give it another chance since it had just gone live. After giving the mobile MMO my fairest attempts, I continue to be disappointed.
Tarisland was meant to be the WOW killer, but this claim typically tends to be a buzzword used to aid in a game’s visibility. Such a bold claim is good for a game’s marketing, and it didn’t hurt that Tarisland’s art style is reminiscent of wows. I was drawn to the game because it was a good-looking MMO I could play on my phone. I understand the stigma behind mobile gaming, but sometimes I can’t or don’t want to be in front of my computer. Sometimes I just want to chill on the couch and play games on my phone.
Tarisland started its journey by promising to be the first free-to-play game that wouldn’t be pay-to-win. This promise was broken after their first beta when they introduced their cash shop featuring pay-to-win items. All mentions of this promise were quickly scrubbed from all their media. These events came as no surprise and should have been a huge flag. I kept playing because I was planning to run this game so casually, the pay-to-win aspect would never affect me. I also didn’t feel like the cash shop was as predatory as other mobile games.
Another issue I have with the game is its customization. While the game looks good, character creation is limited to their premade models. You can change their hairstyle and skin color, but these options are limited. The characters are fine, but people who like to spend hours on character creation will be disappointed by the abysmal amounts of choices. I understand that this is due to the limitations of mobile gaming, but why include character creation if all players are limited to the same pool of choices? Why have character creation when there are gender-locked classes? I feel like those resources could have been spent elsewhere, like making better-looking characters.
The story is rather generic and does little to hook its players. Most players will probably skip through the dialogue in their race to the end game, but the dozens of us who want to be immersed in this new fantasy, Tarisland leave us hanging. The voice acting is either lazy and robotic, or missing altogether. I wasn’t expecting a deep compelling story from a free-to-play mobile game, but I expected the story to at least be interesting enough to be engaging.
I wouldn’t mind the lack of the story if the game was fun, but the game is boring. Tarisland feels like a cheap mobile MMO. Combat is slow, clunky, and uninteresting. It felt like I was waiting for mashing buttons and waiting on cooldowns. What few dungeons I forced myself through were boring, and the whole experience didn’t feel rewarding. Once you get past the graphics and aesthetic, the game is pretty shallow.
I took the game’s limitations going into this game. I wasn’t expecting a genre-defining title from the gate, but I did expect it to be fun. Ultimately when it comes down to it, there are better games on the market that deserve more of your attention. You can try it since it’s free, but it isn’t worth your time.
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